Tuesday, October 14, 2014

I Swear They Are Trying

Harlan Ellison, the multi-award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy, had a stroke last week and is recovering in a Southern California hospital. He is grumpy -- and everyone considers that a good sign.

The redoubtable Patton Oswald, reporting live from the scene, said Harlan is doing OK:

On the other hand, given his legendary contempt for a certain "hideous neologism". when I read this headline --

Sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison recovering from stroke

-- I had to wonder if there wasn't some larger conspiracy afoot to do in Unca Harlan in by just pissing him off to death.

From one of Harlan's many, many publicly expressed opinions on the subject:

First of all, the hideous neologism "sci-fi"--which sounds like crickets fucking--is at the core of this seeming malaise. What is called "sci-fi" is not repeat NOT, science fiction. It is special effects movie/television produced by and for imbeciles. Giant lizards, moronic space battles with spaceships acting as if they were Spads and Fokkers dogfighting in atmosphere, recycled fairy tales, and illiterate appeals to paranoia. They bear as much relation to science fiction of quality (whether film or tv or books or magazines) as Dachau did to a health spa.

6 comments:

Physical Therapy, PT, also short for pain&torture... but damn if they aren't good at it. After my stroke in '08, I spent 20 days in the hospital and two months in acute rehab. They rolled me in on a gurney, and I walked out with a cane. It's an ordeal, for sure, but if he's already doing PT, he's probably OK.

Jesus--crazy news to hear, but it looks like he's doing fine, thank heaven.

(Yes, I know I'm using religious terms when it comes to Harlan, who's an atheist. I don't care.)

Then again, a heart attack in the 1990s didn't take out Ellison. I'm just glad that he's still here, he's still got the attitude, and hope his physical therapy goes well. A stroke is no joke--both my grandmothers died of them, while an uncle survived his and is pretty much 100% fine.

This is why I read this blog. You report important news that the big outlets ignore.

The other day I stopped in at a reasonably large independent bookstore, with by the number of books, a decent sf section. Looking through, three Heinlein (you know the ones), one Clarke, no Asimov, no Silverberg, no Le Guin, no Ellison.

One of my friends, the Nebula-winning fantasy writer Andy Duncan, once proposed, late one night, an anthology of stories by people who had somehow, some way, pissed Harlan Ellison off. He figured it could be called "Rude Harlan," and he also figured there would be no shortage of material. I should point out that he said all this with the greatest of affection for the man.